Streets to be upgraded during holiday

As part of the city of Santa Clarita’s ongoing capital improvement project to fill cracks and re-surface roadways, several local streets are scheduled to be worked on during the next three weeks.

Using federal and state funds to make the repairs and upgrade local streets, the city always has one project under design and one under construction, said Curtis Nay, assistant city engineer. Each project involves multiple streets, he said.

While most of the actual road work is done in the summer and fall, Nay said, there are several local street projects that will be worked on during the holiday period. Some of the streets are located near schools and working on them while students are out on school break is easier.

One major project is planned to begin Jan. 8 on Shadow Pines Boulevard in Canyon Country, said Bill Whitlatch, administrative analyst for the city. The project will last about two weeks.

“The pine tree roots are heaving and disturbing the curb and gutter on the east side of the street,” Whitlatch said.

The west side of the street has about 25 to 30 feet of dirt shoulder, he said, and four to six feet of new road will be laid down — the equivalent of about one-half of a lane.

“We’re shifting the road over so we don’t have to remove the pine trees,” Whitlatch said. “The road will eventually be widened as traffic volume and demand warrants.”

The city received $8 million for its 2012 fiscal year from two sources, Nay said. And it has completed about 90 percent of the projects, Whitlatch said.

The federal Surface Transportation Program-Local program provides part of the money and the rest comes from the Transportation Development Act Article 8. The latter is a state-funded source which comes from a statewide sales tax on diesel fuel and one-quarter percent of the general state sales tax.

The city also collected $6,883,941 for the 2013 fiscal year, Nay said.

“Right now we’re designing fiscal year 2012/2013 which means work will be done in 2013/14,” Nay said. The road work projects span two different fiscal years.

The city hasn’t yet identified the streets it will work on in 2013/2014, Whitlatch said.

In the overlay projects, the city applies a slurry seal over the existing road, Nay said. Slurry seals are said to prolong the life of a street by applying a mixture made from oil and fine sand aggregate to a street once every seven to eight years.

Drivers are encouraged to drive slowly after the work is done as streets have loose sand and asphalt mix until the slurry seal is cured, said a spokesman for the city.

“We have a challenge in our city to keep our pavements up. We have an aggressive program where we aggressively treat our streets,” Nay said. “Our budgets are well-funded but our need is great. We’re still not able to fund enough.”